MINI puzzle #9, November 5, 2026

The mini crossword from that Thursday had five across clues and five down clues on a 5x5 grid with four black squares. In our schedule it is a medium puzzle. Here is every clue with its answer.

Clues and answers

• 1-Across Peak, but not the mountain TOP
• 4-Across Gear for deep dives SCUBA
• 6-Across Let ALLOW
• 7-Across Heavy blows at sea GALES
• 8-Across Needle's hole EYE
• 1-Down Ballerina's skirt fabric TULLE
• 2-Down Orchestra's tuning-note instrument OBOE
• 3-Down Dog feet PAWS
• 4-Down Wise old person or an herb SAGE
• 5-Down Muddy sculptor's medium CLAY

One thing to notice in this grid: 4-Across, SCUBA, crosses five down answers, so it gives the most letters for the fewest guesses. The most common letter in the filled grid is A, which appears 3 times, and the longest answer is SCUBA.

Notes on the words, with sources

• Meaning of SCUBA (noun): (underwater diving) An apparatus carried by a diver, which includes a tank holding compressed, filtered air and a regulator which delivers the air to the diver at ambient pressure which can be used underwater.
• Origin of SCUBA: From SCUBA, acronym of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus; now usually viewed as anacronymic.
• Meaning of ALLOW (verb): (ditransitive) To let one have as a suitable share of something.
• Origin of ALLOW: From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudāre, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocō (“to assign”).
• Meaning of GAL (noun): A galileo (unit of acceleration).

Sources: Wiktionary: scuba (revision 93406097, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: allow (revision 94545747, read 2026-11-06); Wiktionary: gal (revision 93944289, read 2026-11-06). Text from Wiktionary and Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, edited by their contributors.